“The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance”
The second reason the Lord delays His coming is to allow more people to come to Himself.
The Lord is not slack concerning His promise
The word “slack” means to hesitate, linger, delay and this is the only place it occurs in the New Testament. God is not tardy in keeping His timetable for earth. He does not loiter fulfilling His promises.
Peter here presents a magnificent view of God. The Lord delays not because He cannot or will not fulfill His promises but because He wants none perish.
Principle:
We can hold God to His promises because He is faithful to keep them.
Application:
God is not culpable in His dealing with the world. He has His own timetable for dealing with the world. There is an immense difference between God’s timetable and man’s timetable. We cannot impose our timetable on God. What men count tardiness is something else entirely; it is the incredible patience of God with the world.
None of us like to wait for someone who is late. God, in all His infinite years, has never been tardy one time. Everything comes exactly as He has planned. We need to follow this characteristic of God in our own lives. We need to be faithful in keeping our promises and patient in waiting for God to keep His.
Jesus is not slow in His coming. No one diverted Him to Mars. No, it is simply not the right time for Him to return. If He had returned a few years ago you would not have come to Christ.
“God is not a man, that He should lie,
Nor a son of man, that He should repent.
Has He said, and will He not do?
Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?” (Numbers 23:19).“He [Abraham] did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform” (Romans 4:20-21).
When we claim God’s promises, we need to hold Him to His Word.
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